Ex-North Haven Housing Authority Chairman Avoids Prison in Sexual Assault Case: Report

NORTH HAVEN, CT — Former North Haven Housing Authority Chairman Ralph Cook IV avoided prison time and received a suspended five-year sentence and 10 years of probation after being charged with sexually assaulting a man at his home, according to the New Haven Register.

Cook, 51, was arrested in 2014 on charges that he repeatedly sexually assaulted a man during a Halloween party at his Mountain Brook Road home.

The Register reports Cook, who must register as a sex offender, accepted a plea agreement to avoid prison time and pleaded guilty to one of the charges under the Alford doctrine in which the defendant does not admit to all the allegations but concedes the state likely has enough evidence to get a conviction.

Cook’s attorney told Randall Beach of the Register that if the case went to trial he was prepared to offer a “defense of consent.”

Beach reports the victim made an emotional statement in court in which he said he was drugged and repeatedly raped while being locked in a room for more than six hours.

Read the full story, including statements made by the victim in court, at the New Haven Register here.

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